Before we begin, let's look at an excerpt from one of Putin's most recent speeches.
We are going to put it with subtitles so that you can notice the intonation.
And the question that many of you are wondering right now is:
Which traitors is Putin talking about? In this video we are going to tell you.
At the time of making this video almost 4 million Ukrainian refugees had left
the country. But you already know all that. Especially if you live in Europe. Probably
some of you are hosting refugees in your home. However, in today's video we are
going to talk about the other exodus. Yes, we are talking about the exodus of Russians.
N1(Thousands of Russians have fled, afraid a new Iron Curtain will fall. NPR)
That’s right! Actually, those of you who are subscribed to our Patreon already know
all about this because we covered it in one of our recent bulletins. By the way,
if you want to subscribe to our Patreon, you can find all the links in the description.
Not only will you be able to receive our weekly political analysis newsletter but
you will also be able to get our exclusive merchandising,
which is not for sale anywhere else. But let's get back to today’s story.
Ukrainian refugees have received a warm welcome in Europe. And this is
not only out of solidarity with Ukraine. It is also out of economic interest.
Yes! We have not gone crazy! Ukrainian refugees are almost a godsend for many
countries. For example, Poland is taking in more than a million Ukrainians. A city
like Warsaw has seen its population increase by 17% in just a few weeks. And that's good news!
Almost all these refugees are young people who sooner or later will find a job,
pay taxes and... Pay pensions! That’s right! Doing the math,
the refugee problem lies not with the destination country... but in the country of origin!
However, if the war ends with favorable conditions for Ukraine, it stands to reason
that many of those Ukrainians will return to rebuild their country. However... What
about the Russians? Well, let's be honest: no. They are not going back any time soon.
The difference between Ukrainian refugees and Russian migrants is that the latter are fleeing
an increasingly authoritarian political system. And this is almost as big a problem for Russia
as the sanctions. In other words: Russia is losing its best workers. Computer scientists,
lawyers, consultants... A good chunk of this country's gray matter is leaving at full speed.
In economic jargon, this has a name: loss of human capital. And where there is a problem for Russia
there is an opportunity for the rest of the world. Because all that talent has to go somewhere. And,
believe me, if there's one thing a country can never have too much of, it's talent.
And this is where the real issue that we are going to reveal in today's video comes in:
Europe is not accepting them, that’s right! And you will say,
"That’s to be expected! This must be part of the economic sanctions against Russia, right?
Well, nothing of the sort.
In actual fact, accepting Russian migrants right now would be an added punishment towards Russia.
How are they going to be able to do a cyber attack if they don't have hackers anymore?
How are they going to be able to recover their economy if their best talents have left? You
know what I mean? So the question in today's video is why isn't Europe accepting Russian
immigrants? Why should it do so as soon as possible? And how should it go about it?
Today we are going to answer these questions but first...
many of you have asked us how you can collaborate with the Ukrainian army and the resistance. Well,
the National Bank of Ukraine has opened an account to accept donations from all over the world.
This money will go to financing the resistance against the Russian
invasion. If you think this is a just cause and you want to help,
you have the links in the description. Please note that this is not an advertisement:
no one is paying us to say this and we do it because we believe it is our responsibility.
And now, yes, let's take a look at a little bit of history.
T1(THE NEW (OLD) RUSSIA)
On 31 January 1990, McDonald's opened its first restaurant on PUSHKINSKAYA Square in Moscow. More
than 5000 people lined up that day to try the Big Mac. I know: many of you can't believe it.
But for many years, McDonald's in Russia was a novel cool location where it was perfectly
acceptable to go on a first date. A symbol of the new Russia that was opening up to the West. Well,
as of two weeks ago, McDonald's has left Russia.
So, all those restaurants that had the golden arches of McDonalds have had to change their name.
From now on, Russians who want a happy meal will have to go to...
UNCLE VANIA!!!! And some of you will say: "Well, it's probably better for them! Now Russians will
eat healthier. Wait, are there people who say these things without taking the mickey?
In case anyone is seriously thinking about it: the answer is no: the fact that McDonald's is
leaving Russia does not mean that Russians will become healthier. Quite the opposite.
Virtually all multinationals have left Russia.
That means that Russians can no longer buy Ikea furniture, iPhones, or Zara T-shirts.... And even
if they were still for sale, they couldn't afford them anymore! To give you an idea,
there have been days where there was only a single ATM in all of St. Petersburg.
Meanwhile, Putin keeps censoring web pages and
there are thousands of people in jail for participating in anti-war protests.
And this is just the beginning. You don't have to
be a Nobel Prize winner in economics to predict that the worst is yet to come.
And that explains the following.
N2 (Tech talent flees Russia as Western sanctions bite. Techcrunch)
And some will say, "What's the problem? It's better for the Russians who do stay,
more parking space! No, it's not. Believe me: this is an economic tragedy. Think of it this way:
the most important resource of a country is neither its gas nor its oil: it is its people.
This is not a politically correct message:
it is reality. Human capital is fundamental to any economy. And, as you can imagine,
those who are leaving Russia are not exactly the most intellectually challenged.
In fact, Russia has been suffering from a continuous brain drain since 2014. We
are talking about lawyers, accountants and, above all, computer scientists. It is true
that Russia has never been a technology paradise. But in a country of over 144
million inhabitants there are hundreds of thousands of talented people. By the way:
many of them are cybersecurity specialists. Remember all the videos we have made on
VisualPolitik talking about Russian hackers. All those people could find work anywhere in the world
and be very well paid. However the turning point has come with the invasion of Ukraine.
Think about it: it is now that the largest multinationals have left.
For example, it is March 2022 when the Big 4 have left the country. The Big 4 are the 4 largest
audit firms in the world, you know, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, PriceWaterHouseCoopers and KPMG.
These four companies employed more than 15,000 skilled workers. Of course,
the fact that these brands are leaving does not mean that they have laid off their workers.
Remember that these big consulting firms work as a franchise in the purest McDonald's style.
In other words, what used to be Deloitte Russia will now be called something else.
Now, they have lost a large number of their customers. That means that most
of the employees are now on temporary leave until they are redeployed to new projects. The question
is, are they really going to be able to find new customers overnight? Most likely not.
And that means thousands of people unemployed. People who could easily find a good job in
another country. Before the borders are closed, they leave. And yes,
that is what I said: before they close the borders. Because the risk that Russia will
not let them leave is real. In fact, on all internet forums they recommend
deleting all Whatsapp or Telegram messages before leaving the country.
Why? Because the Russian police are conducting real interrogations at the
airport. Any cell phone message that can be interpreted as "anti-Russian" can land
the person in jail or prevent them from leaving the country.
And where are all these Russians going, you may ask? We'll look at that right now.
T2(EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!)
I will give you a real example although I cannot give names
to respect privacy. A Russian IT company with 500 employees. It had
several customers in Japan. In theory, they have not lost them.
Now: they have to leave Russia. So what have they done? Moved to Dubai with the
whole team. That’s correct. Dubai has not sanctioned Russia. So the
CEO of the Russian company has set up a new company in Dubai and moved his entire staff.
But wait a minute, because Dubai is not the only place that is getting Russians! Of course,
if you are a millionaire or a high-end programmer, Dubai is a very attractive destination. But it
has a problem: it's very expensive. What about the rest of the professionals? Well,
in most cases, they are moving to less attractive but more affordable destinations.
Countries like Kazakhstan, India or Georgia have received thousands of Russian workers
in a matter of weeks. But who would want to go and live in Kazakhstan? I’m pretty sure,
no one has ever said "my dream is to live in Almaty" but... think about it:
right now any place is better than Putin's Russia.
For example, more than 25,000 people have already left for Georgia. Among
them is one of the best-known Russian YouTubers in the West:
NFKRZ, who has even already uploaded his first video from Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.
In February alone, 44,000 Russians crossed the border into Finland. The previous month,
this figure was less than 27,000.
And this is where we come to the big problem that we’re exposing in this video. What happens
to those Russians who arrive in Finland (that is, the European Union)? Can they find a job?
Can they buy a house? Can they integrate into Europe? Well, the answer is... NO!
That’s right: Europe is accepting Russians as tourists. That is, with a visa that allows them to
stay for a few months but not to look for a job. And you might say, Bravo! what a smart decision!
Who wants bright young people to come and work in Europe?
Who needs people to work and contribute to pension funds?
Do you understand what I mean? Europe has two gigantic problems:
the pension crisis and the labor shortage. Yes, I know what you are thinking:
in some countries like Spain it seems an insult to say that there is a labor shortage.
But the truth is that there are sectors where it is almost impossible to find workers. For example:
everything to do with cybersecurity.
European companies are desperate to find cybersecurity specialists. And European States are
desperate to find people to pay pensions. So all these Russians who would like to come to Europe
represent two opportunities: one, they weaken Russia because they leave it without its best
professionals; two, they help European nations pay pensions and become more competitive. The
question is, why is Europe rejecting them? We are going to look into that right now.
T3(HATES PUTIN, LOVE RUSSIANS)
We have already discussed this in several VisualPolitik videos:
all countries have special immigration programs to attract talent and money.
Regardless of one's view of foreign workers, no one doubts that it is a good idea to
attract talent and money. That explains the famous H-1B visa in the United States,
through which thousands of people have entered Silicon Valley. And yes,
in this section is where we could also put all those "golden visas" with which
Russian oligarchs entered "Londongrad" or other places like Marbella, in Spain.
Suddenly sanctions have arrived: perfect, Europe does not want any more Russian oligarchs connected
to Putin. Nothing wrong with that. But... What about the professionals? What about that Russian
hacker who is 30 years old and has no connection to Putin or his government? Why can't he be hired?
But are there really so many companies willing to hire Russians? The answer is yes.
I am going to give you another real example where I cannot mention names for privacy
reasons. Imagine a multinational company in the food sector with
offices all over the world. Let's call this company "ACME" to give it a name.
They have just closed their offices in Moscow due to sanctions. However, from its headquarters in
Barcelona, "ACME SPAIN" wants to hire the bulk of the staff of "ACME RUSSIA". These
staff have very useful profiles that they don't want to lose... And here comes the problem!
The employees of ACME RUSSIA arrive at the Spanish consulate in Russia and tell them...
Sorry, we can't process your visa! We can't prove your professional experience!
Why? Because ACME RUSSIA no longer exists! It disappeared the day before yesterday!
In other words, all these people's resumes show that they worked for a shell company.
And this makes it legally impossible to process their visa. Check it out.
The main way to legally enter Spain from outside the European Union is with the
so-called INVESTMENT LAW, passed in 2014. Almost all European countries have similar
laws. This is what we usually refer to as "golden visas". In the case of Spain,
this law allows you to get a visa in two different ways:
by investing a large sum of money in Spain or by being what is called a "high level professional".
How does the law define what a "high level professional" is? Very simple: it is a
professional with such a specialized profile that it is almost impossible to replace him/her with a
local person. For that, it is necessary to present university degrees and professional experience.
Russian universities are not accredited with their European counterparts. And the professional
experience of a Russian is unprovable at the moment. It is as simple as that:
European consulates are not accepting the resumes of thousands of Russian professionals.
And this has three very worrying consequences.
The first is that it sends the wrong message to the Russians:
Putin is right! The West hates each and every Russian! Russophobia exists!
The second is that Europe is missing a very good opportunity to attract talent
and taxpayers. The third is that Europe is not generating the pulling power it needs.
Because it is not the same leaving Russia knowing that your only alternatives are Kazakhstan or
India, than leaving Russia knowing that a much better life awaits you in the European Union.
To put it another way: if you’re watching this video from a consulate in Russia.... Get ready,
time is running out! And well I’ll say it again: time is running out.
The window of opportunity is unique. It is only a matter
of time before Russia closes its borders. In other words,
the Kremlin will have no choice but to ban all its citizens from leaving the country.
It would not be the first time this has happened.
In 1922, the former Soviet Union closed its borders for all its citizens. In 1961,
the German Democratic Republic went so far as to build a wall in Berlin
to prevent anyone from crossing the border into West Berlin.
Such drastic action would be taken for one reason: Russia cannot afford to lose any more talent.
So now the question is over to you: Can you think of any reason why Europe should NOT accept Russian
workers? Will Europe really ever open its doors to displaced Russian talent? What consequences
might this have on the war in Ukraine? You can leave me your answer in the comments.
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